TNA News

- Kurt Angle didn't work Wednesday night's TNA live event in Dublin, Ireland but did a run-in in the Bobby Roode vs. Gunner match. Reports are out he was seen limping and didn't look good. His knee is bothering him and he was scheduled to undergo arthroscopic knee surgery on January 21, 2014, however, he rescheduled it to February 11, 2014 so he could make the overseas tour. Angle isn't being advertised for Lockdown because it's very unlikely he'll be ready.

- The plan going into the week was for TNA Wrestling to debut MVP at Thursday's Impact taping in Glasgow, Scotland. We were told early Tuesday morning the two sides had agreed on money and there were minor details being worked out to make the debut a reality. TNA's pursuit of MVP has been quite the process but the departure of AJ Styles was believed to be a big break through. We're told this is when they bumped their offer to MVP, with some of the money that had been earmarked for AJ becoming available to get a contract done. Creative writer Dave Lagana was pushing to get MVP under contract because he's a guy Lagana wants to build around. One observer said we should see soon enough if MVP can be that center piece TNA is in desperate need of with AJ Styles gone. As for TNA's response, they wouldn't confirm a contract when we contacted them earlier in the week.

- Gail Kim recently appeared as a guest on Wrestling with Rosenberg and she made some fascinating comments about the events that resulted in her quitting WWE the second time. Her final appearance on WWE TV was on the August 1, 2011 episode of Monday Night Raw when she infamously eliminated herself from a Divas Battle Royal. In the interview, Gail said she decided to quit WWE the day they introduced the angle to her that she would be Daniel Bryan's secret girlfriend in the program with The Bella Twins. She said that when she went in that day with her boyfriend/now husband Robert Irvine that she decided to go with the flow. Gail said the USA Network apparently didn't like the Bella Twins fighting over Bryan so her inclusion was the new direction. According to Gail, she was the third choice behind Sara Del Rey and Awesome Kong and they went with her because she was already on the roster. Once the angle concluded, she was frustrated about being phased out again. She said John Laurinaitis asked her if she wanted to train Divas at the company's developmental territory and she didn't want to do it. Her infamous exit was due to frustration, as we noted back when it happened. You can watch the entire interview at this link.

- Former TNA worker Jessy Sorensen did an in-depth interview with Monster Factory Radio at this link. Below are some notes:

Sorensen claimed that Dixie Carter and Bruce Prichard told him to send his medical bills to the TNA office but they kept being returned to him and his mom. He said his mother lost the restaurant she owned due to bankruptcy as she filed bankruptcy because she wasn't able to afford his medical bills.

He said TNA Chief Financial Officer Dean Broadhead and Dixie Carter called and offered him a position as a good will ambassador. Sorensen said he was excited and fully onboard with it. However, the job ended up being where he would fetch talent for their segments at TVs for the six months he was there.

Sorensen said his guaranteed pay was $30,000 a year and said checks were always late. His contract was he got paid at the end of the month but the checks didn't usually come until the 18th when they were supposed to be there the 30th of the prior month. He said when he was working there, he managed a gym where he and Garett Bischoff worked out and waited tables at night. Sorensen reiterated he was working three jobs.

Jessy told a story about arranging for a child with brain cancer to come visit TVs. He said the child, named Nathan, was given first class treatment by many of the workers. AJ Styles gave him gloves, Jeff Hardy decked him out, Kurt Angle and Hulk Hogan all greeted him. Christy Hemme walked him down the ramp. However, he said what really "pissed him off" was they didn't film it and he had to explain to the child's mother it wasn't going to be on TV.

Sorensen revealed he had a bad feeling he was going to be one of the releases. He was sitting at catering with the Hebners at TVs and he told them he didn't know what it was, but he had this feeling he was going to be released. Jessy recalled that Earl Hebner told him there's no way he'd be one of the releases because of the negative press.

Jessy said Bob Ryder called him and informed him that TNA was canceling his contract early. He said Ryder told him it was Dean and Dixie that made the decision but he knew he'd been wanting to wrestle again, so maybe this was the opportunity to do that and maybe come back and wrestle for TNA again one day. Jessy said he wanted to wrestle for them then and had been bugging people for months to let him do it. He said he was told to stay out of the ring and stop sending videos of him in the ring.

He talked about Kurt Angle flying down and spending time with him in the hospital. Jessy said Angle told him he'd be back in 4 months and the next day that he was able to walk again and everything started to come back.

Sorensen said when he worked for Ring of Honor that Dixie wanted him to talk to John Gaburick but he said John never got back to him. He went from 215 lbs to 165 lbs when he got hurt.

Jessy said he was never supposed to do production but be a good will ambassador. Dixie said they gave him a job in production to give him job skills to help him get a better job after this. Sorensen said it was "really shitty" that when he was waiting tables at the restaurant next to Hogan's Beach that fans would come in and notice him. Sorensen said that no wrestler that's "busted their ass" to get there, to get to TV, should be able to make more money working indies. He said a lot of people had second jobs and were struggling.

Sorensen said he and Zema Ion [his opponent when he got hurt] don't even talk anymore. He said Zema came to the hospital one time but they had roomed together for a live event prior to the injury happened in their match at Against All Odds 2012. Jessy said Zema apologized to him later but he felt it was BS because Zema claimed he had lost his number. Sorensen said Dakota Darsow called him after his match against Ion on the December 7, 2012 episode of Impact and told him that he got Ion back for him. You can watch highlights of that match at this link.

Jessy said that Zema and Darsow had a long talk about it, where Zema told him he didn't really know what to say to Sorensen. Jessy said he wasn't mad at Zema and they're cool now, he just wanted to feel like he cared. He reiterated they don't talk anymore.

- We're told TNA Wrestling is hoping to beef up both their tag team and Knockouts divisions with cheaper and younger talent. Dragon Gate USA promoter Sal Hamaoui let it slip on social media that TNA has signed SHINE star Santana Garrett. The company wasn't happy about the information getting out as they've been trying to keep the signing quiet. According to a source, TNA had been courting the second generation star most of last year and there was also WWE interest. We're told she actually agreed to a contract in November but TNA had kept it quiet. It's been Christy Hemme that TNA is relying on to help resurrect the division. Hemme has picked up considerable backstage responsibilities in working with the Knockouts and is very high up on Garrett. The reason why she hasn't debuted on television yet is because Hemme hasn't finalized plans for her. Garrett has actually been featured on TNA television before, appearing as the valet of Orlando Jordan in 2010 and most recently working the Knockouts Knockdown "One Night Only" pay-per-view.

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